Page 45 of The Witch is Back

“But I don’t want to hate you anymore.” And that was the most honest thing she could’ve said. She watched him as he watched her, that new neutral expression hiding all but some of the pain. “We can try. To move forward. I can’t promise we’ll be friends.”

“Married but not friends?”

“Some witches prefer it that way.”

“Not me. You know the example I had.” A quirk of his lips as he referred to the beyond rare love match his parents had. It slipped off again as he squared his shoulders. “We need to be honest with each other. Going forward. It was our mistake. It shouldn’t be our future. Equal partners going forward.”

Sloane’s face came to mind, not to mention the Joining clause, and Emma shifted, trying to keep any guilty motions to a minimum. “Of course.”

He nodded. “So. Partners, wife?” He strode forward, held out a hand.

She slid her hand into his, breath hitching as rougher skin than she’d anticipated rubbed against hers. “Partners. Husband.” Unnerved by the feelings aroused by touching him, she cleared her throat. “Maybe friends. But this time, you’ll have to work for it.”

A genuine grin—maybe the first since he’d been back—curled upward. “Did I mention I like the new sass?”

She couldn’t help it. “No, because you know I don’t need or want your opinion.” But she smiled.

He barked a laugh. “No more putting me on a pedestal then.”

“Please. If anything, I should be up on one for even considering this.”

“I could worship at your feet.” To her surprise—and unease—his smile went lazy. “I might even like it.”

“You keep your fetishes to yourself.”

“So, handcuffs are a no?”

He laughed aloud at her expression and she crossed her eyes at him in response.

It felt...right. Like the clock had turned back, except not, because she was more herself now. And maybe so was he.

The moment held and it slowly dawned on her that he still held her hand. Worse, he was rubbing his thumb along her palm. Tingles chased down her skin as she swallowed.

Something bright moved between them. Her stomach clenched.

“Emma?” Her name was a husky question. He drifted closer.

She had no idea what she’d have said, but as her mouth opened, a hot pain seared her wrist.

Gasping, aware of Bastian hissing simultaneously, she clutched at her skin. As she watched, a dark line drew from their tattooed initials to form another branch. In cursive lettering, the word compromise wrote itself out.

The pain faded and with it the weird moment. At least she hoped so. She took a large step backward to help.

Bastian examined his wrist, which now bore the same word. When he caught her looking, he dropped his arm behind his back. Nodded with a rueful curl of his lips. “No turning back now.”

Her stomach roiled but she nodded in response. “No turning back.”

CHAPTER 10

They didn’t retreat to their corners. Even after the weird almost-kiss, they’d decided in the spirit of getting to know each other again to get a drink, get some popcorn and watch a movie. Or they’d tried, but soon figured out they had vastly differing views on what constituted a “good” movie. They started out polite, but after half an hour they’d thrown off that civility, reminded of their agreement to always be honest. Politeness killed friendships in the long run.

And Emma discovered she enjoyed fighting with Bastian. The puzzled air he got when she disagreed with him, as if still getting used to the new reality, never failed to make her smile. He’d figured that out at about four a.m. when she’d got him arguing white chocolate versus chocolate chip cookies and she’d sniggered in the middle of his passionate speech on the side of classic chocolate chip.

“I miss when you were agreeable,” he’d lamented to the ceiling and hadn’t seen the floating pillow until it hit him in the face.

Emma had finally conked out halfway through some action movie Bastian knew every line to and had woken up five minutes ago at Chester’s pained needtogooutneedtogoout vibes coming down the bond. An unfamiliar knitted blanket was draped over her.

She fingered the blanket, uneasy. Bastian must have conjured it. Thoughtful. Sweet.

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